AuthorTopic: Alttp - Horn of Balance [demo 19] (Read 198130 times)

Hi everybody. Sorry about the long absence. Aside from a brief vacation I got swamped with new projects at work and really needed to focus on that and other things for a while. That being said: no worries, the project is not dead.

The last thing I promised was an updated demo so I'll share that now. Basically it's exactly the same as the last demo, but with less glithes and a ton of performance improvements. You'll see fps counter at the top while in-game to keep track of the second one. If you feel like helping me out then please report any instance the fps drops below 60 fps so I now what area or actions I should try to improve further. Bugreports or other kinds of feedback are (as always) also always welcome!

0.19.40 (27 maart 2018)* Water objects now better destroy attached objects when destroyed themselves* Fixed forgetting to refresh water collisions ds_grids in some circumstances* Found and fixed GML warnings: “ds_grid out of bounds during initialisation”

0.19.41 (28 maart 2018)* Added sound effects to rooms filling up with water

0.19.48 (23 april 2018)* Made more progress on underground prison rooms

0.19.49 (24 april 2018)* Expanded save/load script so I can save more digits per variable (so I can also fit room coordinates when needed)* Found a (gamemaker?) visible bug when an object depth becomes 4.699.880. No solutions in mind apart from redoing the entire depth system :S

0.19.50 (28 april 2018)* Fixed some tiling oversights* Added the last of the flooding animations* Fixed oversight in game loading script* Character can now walk over water if on a bridge* Added visuals for waterfall stopping* Added raising waterlevels for all other switches in waterprison* Added first of the water draining sequencesEDIT: Screenshot of diving under bridges attached

And here is another progress update:Made lots of progress finishing the new dungeon and adding NPC's that can follow you (like Zelda in the lttp intro section). Also, I added some more NPC's. I made custom graphics for the right one (=Florince) since she'll play a larger part in the game and I needed something memorable. Feel free to give me some pointers as I feel there is still plenty of some room for improvement..

0.19.51 (30 april 2018)* Made some more progress populating dungeon rooms with various objects* Added various push objects / puzzles to the dungeon* Fix issue: invisible Link if you jump out of the water instantly after coming up for air* Now also correct depths while diving under the floors* Fixed issue: jumping out of the water for a fraction if damaged by an enemy while swimming

0.19.55 (12 mei 2018)* Added the ability for NPC to follow the player (although I still need to expand the NPC movement animations for this)* Made progress designing the last prison room to add

0.19.56 (13 mei 2018)* Almost fully implemented new NPC: the damsels from lttp* Almost finished custom visuals for new NPC: florine* NPC's will now continue to follow you as you walk to other rooms on the same floorCurrent progress on underwater prison: 9* / 16* Meaning all enemies / objects / grids / scenes / etc finished for that room

A friend asked me the other day as well. I'm kinda had two anwsers for him:

This next demo (end of next month hopefully) I'll have the third major dungeon done. After that I plan on reshuffling the overworld and making it feel more like a 1.0 release by the end of the year. It'll end on a cliffhanger storywise, but it should feel more like a short but full game.

After that... I think I might start on some dark world dungeons ideas or continue adding to the light world. Not sure yet. Honestly I've got so many idea's that I can spend many more years on this. I've also been thinking about quiting after version 1.0 to turn the engine into something completely original, but that might be a bridge to far without an actual team.

And here is another update report:So basically I'm working on the last major mechanic needed for the new dungeon (NPC's following you around). After all that the dungeon should be finished in a few days.

BAD:Got the Flu for over a week now. It's slowly passing already but game progress is obviously halted shortly.

GOOD:Since I've been bored so much recently I ordered an SNES mini and a (PC connectable) wireless SNES controller. Why is this good news? Well, I should now be able to look into making my game (better suited for) playable with a controller. Anybody interested in me spending time on that after this next demo?

Just a post to mention that the next release is still being worked on. I got a little burned out on the project, between getting sick again, finding issues with NPC's following you, and getting a new project of the ground at work. But I'm back at it.

Currently the dungeon order is being edited. Players could appearently (to my shock) lock themselves out off finishing the prison through key usage, so that definatly still needs fixing. Not sure how long it will take since tiling, scenes and so on might all need editing depending on the solution I go with.

0.19.62 (1 juni 2018)* Added Florine to Underwater Prison* Finally made it work with all the various other mechanics: NPC's can now also follow you to other Gamemaker rooms (=different floors/dungeons/etc) uninterrupted.

0.19.63 (2 juni 2018)* Enemies can now interact with pressure plates (but only turned on for NPC's)* Tweaked dungeon map some more

0.19.65 (10 juni 2018)* Connected dungeon to overworld* Adjusted default screen transition to better account for following NPC's (so they get stuck less in closing doors)* Fixed NPC walking into you if you walk in tiny bursts for a little bit

0.19.66 (17 juni 2018)* Made more progress setting up Florine's scenes.* Discovering more issues with NPC respawning that will need to be fixed

0.19.67 (29 juni 2018)* Fixed a number of issues found with NPC respawning

0.19.69 (7 juli 2018)* Fixed errors when suddenly switching into the push state (from a walk state without a shield)* Further tweaked Florine conversations* Fixed error when a third textbox instantly follows others but has a different display speed.

0.19.70 (8 juli 2018)* Tweaked breakable walls in prison* Edited content of most chests in prison* Retiled a number of rooms slightly* Tweaked some drops and room layouts to hint at bomb usage at places* Populated dungeon with containers* Moved conditional doors, locked doors and keys around, changing the dungeon order a bit

Well, do try to not get totally burned out permanently. I'm hoping to see this reach completion!

Those are goals that we share

I'll probably skip on the NCFC this year so I don't have to rush the overworld after this dungeon. That'll give me the freedom to just add whatever for a while. Like chickens! Or more idle animations. Stuff like that that's fun to add just because I can. Working on a single dungeon for so long ideas have been piling up again.

Note that I have only had time to do final playtesting on parts of the new dungeon. If you encounter any issues, or have feedback, be sure to let me know. I love to hear your opinions so I can keep making things better and better.

As for directions: To access the latest new dungeon walk up two screens from the starting position. You'll see an added entrance in the wall in the upper left.

I'll provide more information when I can.

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EDIT: As expected (sigh) playtesting is yielding various minor bugs (and a few major ones). I'm already working to fix them (=8 of the 20 found are already resolved). Expect an improved demo in a few more days.

Go figure: I just finished the second to last issue I found and now my fps tanks to 45 (from 58-60) due to the latest GM:Studio update. Go figure I really hate these newer GameMaker versions sometimes.

Anyway, I'll need some more days to fix stuff. I don't suppose any of you have tips to keep the Gamemaker Finish_Frame engine processing value of games in check?

0.19.73 (26 juli 2018)* Fixed case of dissappearing staircase during water raising* Populated the dungeon with all remaining containers

0.19.74 (27 juli 2018)* Fixed some small depth issues* Populated the dungeon with last enemies

0.20.00 (29 juli 2018)* Finished area around the last of the cells* Made it possible to collect arrows from chests without a bow* Fixed blob spawning + added additional spawn state* Tweaked some more small tweak to the dungeon* Added extra state to default stalfos so they can now also fall from above* Fixed issue with Stalfos getting stuck in cell doors

Yes, I'm using GM:Studio2. Basically it's nice software and an improvement over GM:Studio1. If you're a serieus user that spends time optimizing games and such then I would recommend it. Just be mindfull that it comes with a few quirks:- It contains annoying DRM where you have to log in (=2-step) every so often. On several occassions I've had to wait hours/a day for the software to recognize a reset password.- The move from 1 to 2 might require you to up some of your coding habits (like declaring arguments before use in scripts). It'll make you a better coder through, just expect some time investment there.- The software is constantly being improved which means every 6 months or so might find that you'll have to perform (minor) updates/optimization to previously functioning code.

As for my issue earlier today: I found more people having issues with this latest update so I ended up going back to an earlier version.